


Pipe Dream

by ImogenSmiley



Series: They Exchanged A Smile - A MultiFandom Collection on Anxiety [7]
Category: Love Live! School Idol Project
Genre: Comfort, Dreams and ambitions, Emotional Support, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Pipe dreams, Real world
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-28
Updated: 2019-05-28
Packaged: 2020-03-26 05:55:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19000066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImogenSmiley/pseuds/ImogenSmiley
Summary: Its been five years since she graduated and Nico is yet to be a professional idol.





	Pipe Dream

Nico Yazawa hadn’t been herself for months now, all of her siblings had regarded her jarring shift in demeanour as her disposition transitioned from an outgoing hyperactive extrovert to a withdrawn and passive introvert. She rarely left the house.

Her siblings had tried to draw her out of her shell again, by blaring the songs she had sung half a decade ago with her best friends. And the solo demos she had attempted while she was still in high school when she still believed that the whole “Nico Nico Nii” gimmick would help boost her popularity.

It hadn’t been well received. Instead of joining in, singing along with her younger siblings, she had locked herself in her room and listened to music by the next generation of idols from the school idol scene. That one group from the seaside town had certainly grasped her attention, what was their name? Aqueous? She was sure that was it.

While she listened to the group’s newest release, a song they’d done in order to attempt to qualify for the Love Live Finals, she couldn’t help but scroll through social media, catching updates from people she used to see on the daily.

Nozomi and Eli were off doing something or other, probably eating parfaits, and had been taking selfies. They’d invited Nico to join them, as their meetups were few and far between with Eli being overseas most of the time in the Russian National Ballet Troupe.

Nico was happy for her friend, elated in fact, that one of her fellow group-mates had managed to acquire such a prestigious role in the world of work. Meanwhile, she was a college dropout, wannabe idol and a part time cashier at the deli down the street.

She hated her job. Working in the burger joint down the street form Otonokizaka High School was not what she had expected her life to be, when she was still attending school. Every day, she was faced by teenage girls in those uniforms, like the one that was sitting in her wardrobe in a plastic film, laughing amongst themselves.

She longed to go back. She rarely spoke to the girls from Muse anymore. Kotori, like Eli, had moved abroad, and finally started to study fashion. From what she’d heard from Umi, the brunette was doing well abroad, but the constrast between eastern and western fashion had really stunted her academic reception at the start of her studies.

Umi and Honoka were still local: both taking up roles in their respective family businesses. Neither of the pair seemed to enjoy it much, but Nico doubted they despaired over it as much as she did. Especially now that Cocoro was about to enrol in the school where Nico had made her fame.

She knew that her sister had different dreams, but what was clearer was that most of the school idol groups that spawned from that school had never amounted to the levels of Muse. Not even the duo that consisted of Honoka and Eli’s sisters. They all had nothing on Muse.

Yet Nico; the only one of the nine who intended to continue a persuit of music, was unable to get anything done herself.

Had she burned out? Had Muse really sucked out everything she had? She most certainly hoped not.

 

It had been a long shift, and Nico had had enough. Fridays were hard; she would be on her feet for eight hours and leave the fast food restaurant reeking of grease and fat and submerge herself in a vat of bubbles upon entry to her home.

Rain had been hammering down all afternoon and Nico had no motivation to even pull her umbrella out of the pastel pink shoulder bag as she walked. Instead, she wandered the familiar route home, head hung low. Her hair, once styled into twin tails, was up in a singular ponytail, hanging toward the centre of her back.

She had been soaked. Though, she did her best to ignore it, listening to music that she had found online whenever ago. She was avoiding listening to whatever chart topping idols were dominating the music scene. It made her fantasise about what could have been; she’d had enough dreams about having travelled around Asia, met BTS, sang duets with EXO, hung out with the girls from Red Velvet, have a sell-out concert in Shanghai. She longed to know the big names and wondered whether they would have even heard of Muse.

Whenever those dreams lingered in her mind, she found herself regretting the words of her eighteen-year-old self, when they’d all discussed the fate of Muse. If she’d suggested going pro, and making it into the professional industry, maybe, just maybe, she could have left the group and made a successful solo career out of it. The girls from ARISE, mostly Tsubasa Kira, were all doing really well for themselves as soloists now.

But that was a pipe dream now.

For a moment, she hadn’t noticed that the rain was no longer hammering on her body. She had found herself shielded by a cover from someone else. She spun on her heel and had been faced by a pair of large violet eyes, framed by long lashes lacquered in mascara.

“Nico-chan, are you okay?”

Nico’s jaw fell slack, garnet eyes widening. Without hesitation she had opened her arms and barrelled into the stiff stoic redhead.

Maki Nishikino embraced the shorter girl with one arm, having been holding a large clear umbrella with the other.

Maki Nishikino wasn’t usually in town anymore, or at least, not locally. Through the grapevine and social media, Nico knew a fair share about her friend and how her life had gone since she, herself, had graduated from Otonokizaka. Top of her class, of course.

She was on her way to the top: in her second of seven long years of studies in medicine: well on her way to following in her parents’ footsteps and becoming a doctor. A success. A true success story for the Nishikino’s.

“Maki-chan,” Nico whispered into her shirt.

“Oh Nico-chan, come with me.”

Maki took Nico by the arm and guided the teary girl toward the bus stop, hailing the next one that came by. She paid for them both and steered her friend toward the large house that she and her family shared.

They had been in silence until then, music still coming from her headphones as they sat together.

“Its been a while, huh, Nico-chan,” Maki said.

Nico hummed in response.

“You alright?”

There was no response to that one. So, Maki decided to leave it. She sighed to herself and, eventually, upon entry to her home, steered the dark haired girl to the large white leather sofa. She frowned to herself and walked ahead toward the kitchen and bought a drink for Nico into the living room.

The dark haired girl had her head down, reaching for her phone from inside her coat pocket. She sent a quick text to Cocoro, telling her she would be later than anticipated and asked her to put her younger brother and sister to bed. She would text when she was heading home.

Her sister replied with a thumbs up and as Nico was texting a message of thanks, Maki came in, holding two steaming mugs of hot chocolate, one in a purple mug, the other in a pink. She nursed the purple one and handed the pink to her friend.

“Nico-chan, how are you?”

Nico shrugged, “I’m okay, Maki-chan. How’s university? How’s everything?”

Maki pressed her lips into a fine line and put a hand on her shorter friend’s shoulder, smiling fondly at her friend, “You’re lying. Nozomi said that you bailed on her and Eli today. You used to love seeing them.”

Nico winced, “Maki-chan, I had work.”

Maki didn’t hesitate in her response. Instead, she raised an eyebrow and stared over at Nico with pursed lips. Her voice was dry and flat when she spoke: “You could have rescheduled Nico-chan!”

Nico lowered her head and slunk into herself, gnawing on her lip. She wrung her hands and averted her gaze from the younger girl, focusing on the drink in her mug, “Maki-chan. I really don’t want to talk about this.”

The redhead frowned and had a mouthful of her drink, “But, this is important!”

“It’s not.”

“It is! What’s the matter! I’ve heard you haven’t been yourself in ages!”

“Rich of you to say something now.”

“Now was the first time I could see you!”

“Sure, Maki-chan, sure it was.”

Maki rolled her eyes, posture stiff as she rose her steaming mug toward her lips and nursed the remnants of her drink. She exhaled audibly.

“Nico-chan…”

“Leave it, alright?”

Maki winced beside her friend and rose from her seat. She sighed and headed into the kitchen, placing her mug in the sink. She returned to the living room slowly, ]Nico was still withdrawn in appearance, head hung and small in posture.

“Maki-chan, its hard…”

“Nico-chan, you’ll make it.”

Nico’s lip quivered and the redhead made her way toward her and opened her arms wide, allowing Nico to barrel into her embrace. The dark haired girl burst into tears.

“How did you know?”

“Nico-chan, I know you, its okay. You’ll do it, you’re gonna make it!”

The pair exchanged a weak smile.

Mkai took Nico’s hand and smiled at her, squeezing her fingers.

“Just keep going, Nico-chan.”


End file.
